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Available Battery Charger(s)

jodeb720
Explorer
Explorer
Gents,

I hope this not finds you well in the land of high gas prices...

My cousin just purchased a truck camper and it's got an interstate battery (not sure what kind, size, etc).

He's going to be purchasing new battery - and he's not sure if Li is in his budget or AGM is in his future.

What he doesn't have is a good external battery charger he can order today that's not obnoxious in price.

He's not going to replace his WFCO power center - so that's off the table.

I'm open to any and all suggestions for an external charger that he can order today.

Thanks for suggestions in advance!

josh
17 REPLIES 17

theoldwizard1
Explorer
Explorer
jodeb720 wrote:

He's not going to replace his WFCO power center - so that's off the table.

Then lithium is off the table.

WFCO has a lot of "haters" around here, even for lead acid, including AGM. Most say it will not do a proper 3 state charge, regardless of what they advertise.

jodeb720
Explorer
Explorer
he's going boondocking.
He just swapped out his incandescent lights to LED's
on his maiden voyage, he went to a full hookup location but didn't connect and was boondocking. His battery did last overnight with the Howler (Furnace) water heater, furnace.

He has a voltmeter with him and his battery voltage was 12.3 - but the charger was steady at 13.6 never tapering after 8 hours of connecting to shore power (for a recharge).

I don't know if a FLA will suffice in a TC. He's limited right now to one battery. I'm thinking an AGM might be his best bet.

He plans on doing primarily weekend trips - so if he can get 2 or 3 nights without running a 120 volt generator (and right now Solar isn't on the table) he'd be golden.

When he returns home, he'll need to fully recharge the battery and that's where the external will come into play.

I have my Vectron that I use in my 5er - with battery isolation switches. When I recharge my two banks of 6 volts, I isolate one bank, connect my charger and charge that one bank of batteries - and when they are at at 80%, isolate the other set, and repeat. I can usually get both sets to 80% in about 2-3 hours of charge time.

He's going to come home and charge at home and remove the battery from the TC and charge it inside until it's fully charged.

As we all know, if you fully charge after using the batteries, a little maintenance goes a long way to longevity. I've got 8 years so far out of my two banks.

Gdetrailer
Explorer III
Explorer III
He is better off buying a cheap standard FLA (wetcell) or AGM for this round until he figures out what type of camping he wants to do..

If he is only camping where there is commercial power all the time then Li will be a total waste of money as he wouldn't be using or taking full advantage and the cost of Li.

He also does not have to replace the current power center, there are aftermarket slide in replacement power converters which can slide right into the current WFCO power center. One can also buy deckmount converters in which you just wire those in and disconnect the power to the WFCO converter.

The slide in replacement converters tend to be a bit more cost effective than adding a external deck mount..

Typically Progressive Dynamics (PD) converters are pretty highly regarded and that is what I have and am pleased with it.